Damien Oliver’s immediate future will be decided on Tuesday when Victorian stewards rule on a penalty for the champion jockey who has admitted to betting offences.
Racing Victoria will also reveal why Oliver was allowed to ride during the spring carnival when it became known he was under investigation for illegal betting.
Oliver was stood down last week after he made admissions he bet on Miss Octopussy in a race at Moonee Valley two years ago in which he rode sixth-placed Europa Point.
He has also been charged with using a mobile phone in the vicinity of the jockeys’ room before that race.
Between the reports surfacing and charges being laid, Oliver rode three Group One winners at the Melbourne carnival.
Outgoing RV chief executive Rob Hines has defended the decision to allow Oliver to keep riding saying all would become clear after Tuesday’s hearing.
“After Tuesday when everyone’s got the opportunity to look at it laid out in detail I’m pretty hopeful people will say `they handled it OK’,” Hines told TVN.
Oliver, who was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2009, is one of only seven jockeys to have won the country’s grand slam of the Golden Slipper, Cox Plate, Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup.
Sydney jockeys Peter Robl and Blake Shinn were found guilty of betting offences in 2010 and were disqualified for 12 months and 15 months respectively.
